diff --git a/modules/installer/efi-boot-stub/efi-boot-stub-builder.sh b/modules/installer/efi-boot-stub/efi-boot-stub-builder.sh
index d37b56c7ffe4..2e778210dc52 100644
--- a/modules/installer/efi-boot-stub/efi-boot-stub-builder.sh
+++ b/modules/installer/efi-boot-stub/efi-boot-stub-builder.sh
@@ -75,6 +75,14 @@ addEntry() {
         defaultbootnum=$(efibootmgr | grep "NixOS $generation Generation" | sed 's/Boot//' | sed 's/\*.*//')
 	set -e
       fi
+
+      if test -n "@installRemovableMediaImage@"; then
+        mkdir -pv "@efiSysMountPoint@"/efi/boot
+        cp "@removableMediaImage@" \
+          "@efiSysMountPoint@"/efi/boot/boot"@targetArch@".efi
+	iconv -f utf-8 -t UCS-2 < $startup > "@efiSysMountPoint@"/efi/nixos/boot-params
+        filesCopied["@efiSysMountPoint@"/efi/nixos/boot-params]=1
+      fi
       if test -n "@installStartupNsh@"; then
         sed 's|.*@kernelFile@.efi|@kernelFile@.efi|' < $startup > "@efiSysMountPoint@/startup.nsh"
         cp $kernel "@efiSysMountPoint@/@kernelFile@.efi"
diff --git a/modules/installer/efi-boot-stub/efi-boot-stub.nix b/modules/installer/efi-boot-stub/efi-boot-stub.nix
index eeabd55c7292..c83ba8937b61 100644
--- a/modules/installer/efi-boot-stub/efi-boot-stub.nix
+++ b/modules/installer/efi-boot-stub/efi-boot-stub.nix
@@ -59,6 +59,18 @@ let
             '';
           };
 
+          installRemovableMediaImage = mkOption {
+            default = false;
+            description = ''
+              Whether to build/install a BOOT{machine type short-name}.EFI file
+              in \EFI\BOOT. This _should_ only be needed for removable devices
+              (CDs, usb sticks, etc.), but it may be an option for broken
+              systems where efibootmgr doesn't work. It reads the UCS-2
+              encoded \EFI\NIXOS\BOOT-PARAMS to find out which kernel to boot
+              with which parameters.
+            '';
+          };
+
         };
       };
     };
@@ -68,14 +80,22 @@ in
 
 ###### implementation
 let
-  efiBootStubBuilder = pkgs.substituteAll {
+  efiBootStubBuilder = pkgs.substituteAll ({
     src = ./efi-boot-stub-builder.sh;
     isExecutable = true;
     inherit (pkgs) bash;
-    path = [pkgs.coreutils pkgs.gnused pkgs.gnugrep] ++ (pkgs.stdenv.lib.optionals config.boot.loader.efiBootStub.runEfibootmgr [pkgs.efibootmgr pkgs.module_init_tools]);
-    inherit (config.boot.loader.efiBootStub) efiSysMountPoint runEfibootmgr installStartupNsh efiDisk efiPartition;
+    path = [pkgs.coreutils pkgs.gnused pkgs.gnugrep pkgs.glibc] ++ (pkgs.stdenv.lib.optionals config.boot.loader.efiBootStub.runEfibootmgr [pkgs.efibootmgr pkgs.module_init_tools]);
+    inherit (config.boot.loader.efiBootStub) efiSysMountPoint runEfibootmgr installStartupNsh efiDisk efiPartition installRemovableMediaImage;
     kernelFile = platform.kernelTarget;
-  };
+  } // pkgs.stdenv.lib.optionalAttrs config.boot.loader.efiBootStub.installRemovableMediaImage {
+    removableMediaImage = "${pkgs.NixosBootPkg}/X64/NixosBoot.efi";
+    targetArch = if pkgs.stdenv.isi686 then
+      "IA32"
+    else if pkgs.stdenv.isx86_64 then
+      "x64"
+    else
+      throw "Unsupported architecture";
+  });
 
   # Temporary check, for nixos to cope both with nixpkgs stdenv-updates and trunk
   platform = pkgs.stdenv.platform;